In the new documentary Whitney, out Friday, audiences get to see and learn just how iconic singer Whitney Houston truly was.

Directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald, Whitney is the first feature-length documentary on Houston made with the permission of her estate. While this meant Macdonald had access to thousands of hours of footage of Houston in some of her most intimate moments, it did not mean that any of the issues the singer faced would be glossed over.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Macdonald said this exclusive clip of Houston and her mother Cissy felt “so much like it encapsulated all the themes in her life.”

According to Macdonald, the clip comes from backstage footage of a TV special Houston did in 1990 for ABC, called Whitney Houston: This Is My Life.

Roadside Attractions

The director of the special, Anthony Eaton, had to pull the dailies from a storage unit in Salt Lake City for Macdonald to add it to the documentary. Eaton was unable to get Houston to fully open up on camera, but he was savvy enough to have Robyn Crawford, Houston’s ex-girlfriend and creative director, interview the singer and strike gold, Macdonald said.

“This clip sums up the complexity of Whitney's relationship with her mother, her vulnerability and her sincerity,” Macdonald said.

Lennox Mclendon / Associated Press

“She's sincere; she's miserable at these people who are just fakes, are doing better than her and everything she’s putting into it,” he said. “But you also get the sense that she's been told by her mom since she was a little girl that ‘God laid his hands on you. You're special. You know you have God-given talent,’ and that seems to get to the heart of everything about her.”

Marcus Jones is an entertainment reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.